Next month we will be making exciting announcements about our upcoming (2015) international workshop on Intellectual Property (IP), bioscience, and agriculture. HOWEVER, we want to make sure we produce a programme of papers that are attractive not only to lawyers, historians, and so on, but also people out there in the world of science/business who work in an agricultural IP environment on a daily basis.

Rather than just guess at what such people might be interested in/concerned about/wanting to learn more about, we thought it best to send this (an informal 'open letter') to try and get some feedback.

Absolutely anyone can contribute (either in the comments below or via email - the latter is clickable from the icon at the top of the website) but we particularly want to hear from scientists (working in any area of the biosciences), plant breeders, and arable farmers.

We also appreciate that everyone is very busy indeed, but even just spending a few minutes to share your perspective would be immensely valuable and helpful.

Potential things you might want to consider:

Do you feel you get much of an opportunity to define how IP protections should work, and have you ever been frustrated in your efforts, either from lacking this opportunity, or having the opportunity but failing to achieve change?

Are there ways in which IP influences your research choices, for good or ill?

Are there ways in which IP influences your breeding plans, for good or ill?

Are there ways in which IP influences your varietal, or seed management choices, for good or ill?

Are there parts of IP and how it works that you feel you don't understand?

Are there parts of IP and how it works that you don't think OTHER people understand or even know about, but should?

What do you consider to be the most important changes in the IP landscape (nationally and internationally) in recent years?

Are there claims that get regularly made about IP that you consider bonkers or misguided?